Systems Science Research in Public Health (SysSci)
Many different things affect how healthy we are throughout our lives, and how long we can expect to live. These things include our genes, our behaviour and, most importantly, the social, political and environmental conditions in which we are born, grow up, live, work and age. These conditions are not the same for everyone and there are big differences in health between people who are well off and those who are not, and on average the richest live many more years in good health than the poorest.
Our new systems science programme seeks to understand what policy makers can do to help people live healthier for longer, and how we can address the unfair gap between rich and poor. Systems science is a collection of methods and approaches for understanding complex relationships between things and how they develop over time. It is often used in the natural sciences such as for understanding eco systems or the weather, but we believe it can also help us understand how social, environmental and political conditions (for example economic recessions, climate change) influence health and wellbeing.
Our programme will seek to develop a group of researchers with the necessary topic and methods skills and then work with research partners and policy makers to address one of the key challenges of our times – how we can live healthier for longer.
If you are interested in collaborating or maybe joining the team – please get in touch for a chat! You can contact Professor Petra Meier by email or via twitter @pmeierprof.
Systems Science in Public Health Podcast
Publications
Kakampakou, L., Stokes, J. , Hoehn, A. , de Kamps, M., Lawniczak, W., Arnold, K. F., Hensor, E. M.A., Heppenstall, A. J. and Gilthorpe, M. S. (2025) Simulating hierarchical data to assess the utility of ecological versus multilevel analyses in obtaining individual-level causal effects. BMC Medical Research Methodology, (Accepted for Publication)
Pollack, R. et al. (2024) How could 20-minute neighbourhoods impact health and health inequalities? A policy scoping review. BMC Public Health, 24, 3426. (doi: 10.1186/s12889-024-20928-5) (PMID:39696117) (PMCID:PMC11653922)
Tweed, E. J. , Cimova, K. , Craig, P. , Allik, M. , Brown, D. , Campbell, M. , Henderson, D., Mayor, C., Meier, P. and Watson, N. (2024) Unlocking data: decision-maker perspectives on cross-sectoral data sharing and linkage as part of a whole-systems approach to public health policy and practice. Public Health Research, (doi: 10.3310/KYTW2173) (PMID:39582242) (Early Online Publication)
Meier, P. , Holmes, J., Stevely, A., Boyd, J. E., Hernandez Alava, M., Hardie, I., Warde, A. and Sasso, A. (2024) Drinking practices: the variation of drinking events across intersections of sex, age and household income. Drug and Alcohol Review, (doi: 10.1111/dar.13975) (Early Online Publication)
Boyd, J., Holmes, J., Gibbs, N., Buckley, C., Purshouse, R. and Meier, P. (2024) How can agent-based modelling provide new insights into the impact of minimum unit pricing in Scotland? Drug and Alcohol Review, 43(7), pp. 1657-1661. (doi: 10.1111/dar.13880) (PMID:37638133) (PMCID:PMC10457563)
Gamal, Y. , Elsenbroich, C. , Gilbert, N., Heppenstall, A. and Zia, K. (2024) A behavioural agent-based model for housing markets: impact of financial shocks in the UK. Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, 27(4), 5. (doi: 10.18564/jasss.5518)
Olmez, S., Birks, D., Heppenstall, A. and Ge, J. (2024) Learning the rational choice perspective: a reinforcement learning approach to simulating offender behaviours in criminological agent-based models. Computers, Environment and Urban Systems, 112, 102141. (doi: 10.1016/j.compenvurbsys.2024.102141)
Brook, A., Rendall, G., Hearty, W., Meier, P. , Thomson, H. , Macnamara, A., Crossley, R., Campbell, M. and McCartney, G. (2024) What is the relationship between changes in the size of economies and mortality derived population health measures in high income countries: a causal systematic review. Social Science and Medicine, 357, 117190. (doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.117190) (PMID:39178721)
Olmez, S., Heppenstall, A. , Ge, J., Elsenbroich, C. and Birks, D. (2024) Mitigating housing market shocks: an agent-based reinforcement learning approach with implications for real-time decision support. Journal of Simulation, (doi: 10.1080/17477778.2024.2375446) (Early Online Publication)
Montano, L. J., Elsenbroich, C. , Font, X. and Alector Ribeiro, M. (2024) Impact evaluation with process tracing: explaining causal processes in an EU-INTERREG sustainable tourism intervention. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, (doi: 10.1080/09669582.2024.2358115) (Early Online Publication)
Kopasker, D. et al. (2024) Evaluating the influence of taxation and social security policies on psychological distress: a microsimulation study of the UK during the COVID-19 economic crisis. Social Science and Medicine, 351, 116953. (doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.116953) (PMID:38759385)
Holmes, J., Sasso, A., Hernández Alava, M., Borges Neves, R., Stevely, A. K., Warde, A. and Meier, P. S. (2024) How is alcohol consumption and heavy episodic drinking spread across different types of drinking occasion in Great Britain: An event-level latent class analysis. International Journal of Drug Policy, 127, 104414. (doi: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2024.104414)
Höhn, A. , Kulu, H., Andersson, G. and Campbell, B. (2024) Childbearing across immigrants and their descendants in Sweden: The role of generation and gender. International Migration Review, (doi: 10.1177/01979183241245072) (Early Online Publication)
Hoehn, A. et al. (2024) Estimating quality-adjusted life expectancy (QALE) for local authorities in Great Britain and its association with indicators of the inclusive economy: a cross-sectional study. BMJ Open, 14(3), e076704. (doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2023-076704) (PMID:38431294) (PMCID:PMC10910677)
Blake, C. et al. (2024) Participatory systems mapping for population health research, policy and practice: guidance on method choice and design. Documentation. University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK. (doi: 10.36399/gla.pubs.316563).
Griffiths, C. et al. (2023) A complex systems approach to obesity: a transdisciplinary framework for action. Perspectives in Public Health, 143(6), pp. 305-309. (doi: 10.1177/17579139231180761) (PMID:37395317) (PMCID:PMC10683338)
Hjelmskog, A. (2023) Using the Doughnut Economics Framework to Structure Whole-Systems Thinking in Socioecological Wellbeing with Multidisciplinary Stakeholders: An Applied Case Study in Glasgow, Scotland. UK Public Health Science: A National Conference Dedicated to New Research in UK Public Health, London, UK, 24 November 2023. (doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(23)02057-3)
Höhn, A. et al. (2023) Systems science methods in public health: what can they contribute to our understanding of and response to the cost-of-living crisis? Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 77(9), pp. 610-616. (doi: 10.1136/jech-2023-220435) (PMID:37328262) (PMCID:PMC10423532)
Boyd, J., Hayes, K., Green, D., Angus, C. and Holmes, J. (2023) The contribution of health behaviour to socioeconomic inequalities in alcohol harm: analysis of the UK Biobank, a large cohort study with linked health outcomes. SSM - Population Health, 23, 101443. (doi: 10.1016/j.ssmph.2023.101443) (PMID:37334333) (PMCID:PMC10275713)
Hjelmskog, A. and Deas, I. (2023) The equity implications of an expanded health and wellbeing role for housing associations. Public Health in Practice, 5, 100355. (doi: 10.1016/j.puhip.2023.100355) (PMID:37346378) (PMCID:PMC10280050)
Warde, A., Sasso, A., Holmes, J., Hernández Alava, M., Stevely, A. K. and Meier, P. S. (2023) Situated drinking: the association between eating and alcohol consumption in Great Britain. Nordic Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 40(3), pp. 301-318. (doi: 10.1177/14550725231157222) (PMID:37255611) (PMCID:PMC10225964)
Franklin, R. S. et al. (2023) Making space in geographical analysis. Geographical Analysis, 55(2), pp. 325-341. (doi: 10.1111/gean.12325)
Broadbent, P., Thomson, R. , Kopasker, D. , McCartney, G. , Meier, P. , Richiardi, M., McKee, M. and Katikireddi, S. V. (2023) The public health implications of the cost-of-living crisis: outlining mechanisms and modelling consequences. Lancet Regional Health - Europe, 27, 100585. (doi: 10.1016/j.lanepe.2023.100585) (PMID:37035237) (PMCID:PMC10068020)
Meier, P. , Katikireddi, S. V. and Smith, K. (2023) Bold action is needed to strengthen primary prevention. British Medical Journal, 380, p595. (doi: 10.1136/bmj.p595) (PMID:36921929)
Elsenbroich, C. and Polhill, J. G. (2023) Agent-based modelling as a method for prediction for complex social systems. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 26(2), pp. 133-142. (doi: 10.1080/13645579.2023.2152007)
Elsenbroich, C. and Badham, J. (2023) Negotiating a future that is not like the past. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 26(2), pp. 207-213. (doi: 10.1080/13645579.2022.2137935)
Hardie, I. , Sasso, A., Holmes, J. and Meier, P. S. (2023) Understanding changes in the locations of drinking occasions in Great Britain: an age-period-cohort analysis of repeat cross-sectional market research data, 2001-2019. Drug and Alcohol Review, 42(1), pp. 105-118. (doi: 10.1111/dar.13562) (PMID:36222548) (PMCID:PMC10092301)
Boyd, J., Wilson, R., Elsenbroich, C. , Heppenstall, A. and Meier, P. (2022) Agent-based modelling of health inequalities following the complexity turn in public health: a systematic review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(24), 16807. (doi: 10.3390/ijerph192416807) (PMID:36554687) (PMCID:PMC9779847)
Occhipinti, J.-A. et al. (2022) Measuring, modeling, and forecasting the Mental Wealth of Nations. Frontiers in Public Health, 10, 879183. (doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.879183) (PMID:35968431) (PMCID:PMC9368578)
Hardie, I. , Stevely, A. K., Sasso, A., Meier, P. S. and Holmes, J. (2022) The impact of changes in COVID-19 lockdown restrictions on alcohol consumption and drinking occasion characteristics in Scotland and England in 2020: an interrupted time-series analysis. Addiction, 117(6), pp. 1622-1639. (doi: 10.1111/add.15794) (PMID:35108758)
Brand-Correa, L., Brook, A., Büchs, M., Meier, P. , Naik, Y. and O’Neill, D. W. (2022) Economics for people and planet – moving beyond the neoclassical paradigm. Lancet Planetary Health, 6(4), E371-E379. (doi: 10.1016/S2542-5196(22)00063-8) (PMID:35397225) (PMCID:PMC9226380)
Wu, G., Heppenstall, A. , Meier, P. , Purshouse, R. and Lomax, N. (2022) A synthetic population dataset for estimating small area health and socio-economic outcomes in Great Britain. Scientific Data, 9, 19. (doi: 10.1038/s41597-022-01124-9) (PMID:35058471) (PMCID:PMC8776798)
Gibbs, N. K., Angus, C., Dixon, S., Parry, C. D.H., Meier, P. , Boachie, M. K. and Verguet, S. (2022) Equity impact of minimum unit pricing of alcohol on household health and finances among rich and poor drinkers in South Africa. BMJ Global Health, 7(1), e007824. (doi: 10.1136/bmjgh-2021-007824) (PMID:34992078) (PMCID:PMC8739056)
Naik, Y., Brook, A., Perraton, J. and Meier, P. (2021) Fiscal and monetary policies: the cutting edge of advocacy and research on population health and climate change. Perspectives in Public Health, 141(6), pp. 325-327. (doi: 10.1177/17579139211059983)
Meier, P. S. , Holmes, J., Brennan, A. and Angus, C. (2021) Alcohol policy and gender: a modelling study estimating gender-specific effects of alcohol pricing. Addiction, 116(9), pp. 2372-2384. (doi: 10.1111/add.15464) (PMID:33651444)
Holmes, J., Angus, C., Sasso, A., Stevely, A. K. and Meier, P. S. (2021) What proportion of on-trade alcohol is served to those who are already potentially intoxicated? An analysis of event-level data. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 82(5), pp. 602-609. (doi: 10.15288/jsad.2021.82.602) (PMID:34546906) (PMCID:PMC7611694)
McGill, E. et al. (2021) Evaluation of public health interventions from a complex systems perspective: a research methods review. Social Science and Medicine, 272, 113697. (doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.113697) (PMID:33508655)
Publications (continued)
Kakampakou, L., Stokes, J. , Hoehn, A. , de Kamps, M., Lawniczak, W., Arnold, K. F., Hensor, E. M.A., Heppenstall, A. J. and Gilthorpe, M. S. (2025) Simulating hierarchical data to assess the utility of ecological versus multilevel analyses in obtaining individual-level causal effects. BMC Medical Research Methodology, (Accepted for Publication)
Pollack, R. et al. (2024) How could 20-minute neighbourhoods impact health and health inequalities? A policy scoping review. BMC Public Health, 24, 3426. (doi: 10.1186/s12889-024-20928-5) (PMID:39696117) (PMCID:PMC11653922)
Tweed, E. J. , Cimova, K. , Craig, P. , Allik, M. , Brown, D. , Campbell, M. , Henderson, D., Mayor, C., Meier, P. and Watson, N. (2024) Unlocking data: decision-maker perspectives on cross-sectoral data sharing and linkage as part of a whole-systems approach to public health policy and practice. Public Health Research, (doi: 10.3310/KYTW2173) (PMID:39582242) (Early Online Publication)
Meier, P. , Holmes, J., Stevely, A., Boyd, J. E., Hernandez Alava, M., Hardie, I., Warde, A. and Sasso, A. (2024) Drinking practices: the variation of drinking events across intersections of sex, age and household income. Drug and Alcohol Review, (doi: 10.1111/dar.13975) (Early Online Publication)
Boyd, J., Holmes, J., Gibbs, N., Buckley, C., Purshouse, R. and Meier, P. (2024) How can agent-based modelling provide new insights into the impact of minimum unit pricing in Scotland? Drug and Alcohol Review, 43(7), pp. 1657-1661. (doi: 10.1111/dar.13880) (PMID:37638133) (PMCID:PMC10457563)
Gamal, Y. , Elsenbroich, C. , Gilbert, N., Heppenstall, A. and Zia, K. (2024) A behavioural agent-based model for housing markets: impact of financial shocks in the UK. Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, 27(4), 5. (doi: 10.18564/jasss.5518)
Squires, H. et al. (2024) The PHEM-B toolbox of methods for incorporating the influences on Behaviour into Public Health Economic Models. BMC Public Health, 24(1), 2794. (doi: 10.1186/s12889-024-20225-1) (PMID:39395958) (PMCID:PMC11475213)
Olmez, S., Birks, D., Heppenstall, A. and Ge, J. (2024) Learning the rational choice perspective: a reinforcement learning approach to simulating offender behaviours in criminological agent-based models. Computers, Environment and Urban Systems, 112, 102141. (doi: 10.1016/j.compenvurbsys.2024.102141)
Brook, A., Rendall, G., Hearty, W., Meier, P. , Thomson, H. , Macnamara, A., Crossley, R., Campbell, M. and McCartney, G. (2024) What is the relationship between changes in the size of economies and mortality derived population health measures in high income countries: a causal systematic review. Social Science and Medicine, 357, 117190. (doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.117190) (PMID:39178721)
Olmez, S., Heppenstall, A. , Ge, J., Elsenbroich, C. and Birks, D. (2024) Mitigating housing market shocks: an agent-based reinforcement learning approach with implications for real-time decision support. Journal of Simulation, (doi: 10.1080/17477778.2024.2375446) (Early Online Publication)
Montano, L. J., Elsenbroich, C. , Font, X. and Alector Ribeiro, M. (2024) Impact evaluation with process tracing: explaining causal processes in an EU-INTERREG sustainable tourism intervention. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, (doi: 10.1080/09669582.2024.2358115) (Early Online Publication)
Kopasker, D. et al. (2024) Evaluating the influence of taxation and social security policies on psychological distress: a microsimulation study of the UK during the COVID-19 economic crisis. Social Science and Medicine, 351, 116953. (doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.116953) (PMID:38759385)
Holmes, J., Sasso, A., Hernández Alava, M., Borges Neves, R., Stevely, A. K., Warde, A. and Meier, P. S. (2024) How is alcohol consumption and heavy episodic drinking spread across different types of drinking occasion in Great Britain: An event-level latent class analysis. International Journal of Drug Policy, 127, 104414. (doi: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2024.104414)
Höhn, A. , Kulu, H., Andersson, G. and Campbell, B. (2024) Childbearing across immigrants and their descendants in Sweden: The role of generation and gender. International Migration Review, (doi: 10.1177/01979183241245072) (Early Online Publication)
Hoehn, A. et al. (2024) Estimating quality-adjusted life expectancy (QALE) for local authorities in Great Britain and its association with indicators of the inclusive economy: a cross-sectional study. BMJ Open, 14(3), e076704. (doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2023-076704) (PMID:38431294) (PMCID:PMC10910677)
Blake, C. et al. (2024) Participatory systems mapping for population health research, policy and practice: guidance on method choice and design. Documentation. University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK. (doi: 10.36399/gla.pubs.316563).
Griffiths, C. et al. (2023) A complex systems approach to obesity: a transdisciplinary framework for action. Perspectives in Public Health, 143(6), pp. 305-309. (doi: 10.1177/17579139231180761) (PMID:37395317) (PMCID:PMC10683338)
Hjelmskog, A. (2023) Using the Doughnut Economics Framework to Structure Whole-Systems Thinking in Socioecological Wellbeing with Multidisciplinary Stakeholders: An Applied Case Study in Glasgow, Scotland. UK Public Health Science: A National Conference Dedicated to New Research in UK Public Health, London, UK, 24 November 2023. (doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(23)02057-3)
Höhn, A. et al. (2023) Systems science methods in public health: what can they contribute to our understanding of and response to the cost-of-living crisis? Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 77(9), pp. 610-616. (doi: 10.1136/jech-2023-220435) (PMID:37328262) (PMCID:PMC10423532)
Boyd, J., Hayes, K., Green, D., Angus, C. and Holmes, J. (2023) The contribution of health behaviour to socioeconomic inequalities in alcohol harm: analysis of the UK Biobank, a large cohort study with linked health outcomes. SSM - Population Health, 23, 101443. (doi: 10.1016/j.ssmph.2023.101443) (PMID:37334333) (PMCID:PMC10275713)
Hjelmskog, A. and Deas, I. (2023) The equity implications of an expanded health and wellbeing role for housing associations. Public Health in Practice, 5, 100355. (doi: 10.1016/j.puhip.2023.100355) (PMID:37346378) (PMCID:PMC10280050)
Warde, A., Sasso, A., Holmes, J., Hernández Alava, M., Stevely, A. K. and Meier, P. S. (2023) Situated drinking: the association between eating and alcohol consumption in Great Britain. Nordic Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 40(3), pp. 301-318. (doi: 10.1177/14550725231157222) (PMID:37255611) (PMCID:PMC10225964)
Franklin, R. S. et al. (2023) Making space in geographical analysis. Geographical Analysis, 55(2), pp. 325-341. (doi: 10.1111/gean.12325)
Broadbent, P., Thomson, R. , Kopasker, D. , McCartney, G. , Meier, P. , Richiardi, M., McKee, M. and Katikireddi, S. V. (2023) The public health implications of the cost-of-living crisis: outlining mechanisms and modelling consequences. Lancet Regional Health - Europe, 27, 100585. (doi: 10.1016/j.lanepe.2023.100585) (PMID:37035237) (PMCID:PMC10068020)
Meier, P. , Katikireddi, S. V. and Smith, K. (2023) Bold action is needed to strengthen primary prevention. British Medical Journal, 380, p595. (doi: 10.1136/bmj.p595) (PMID:36921929)
Elsenbroich, C. and Polhill, J. G. (2023) Agent-based modelling as a method for prediction for complex social systems. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 26(2), pp. 133-142. (doi: 10.1080/13645579.2023.2152007)
Elsenbroich, C. and Badham, J. (2023) Negotiating a future that is not like the past. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 26(2), pp. 207-213. (doi: 10.1080/13645579.2022.2137935)
Hardie, I. , Sasso, A., Holmes, J. and Meier, P. S. (2023) Understanding changes in the locations of drinking occasions in Great Britain: an age-period-cohort analysis of repeat cross-sectional market research data, 2001-2019. Drug and Alcohol Review, 42(1), pp. 105-118. (doi: 10.1111/dar.13562) (PMID:36222548) (PMCID:PMC10092301)
Boyd, J., Wilson, R., Elsenbroich, C. , Heppenstall, A. and Meier, P. (2022) Agent-based modelling of health inequalities following the complexity turn in public health: a systematic review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(24), 16807. (doi: 10.3390/ijerph192416807) (PMID:36554687) (PMCID:PMC9779847)
Occhipinti, J.-A. et al. (2022) Measuring, modeling, and forecasting the Mental Wealth of Nations. Frontiers in Public Health, 10, 879183. (doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.879183) (PMID:35968431) (PMCID:PMC9368578)
Hardie, I. , Stevely, A. K., Sasso, A., Meier, P. S. and Holmes, J. (2022) The impact of changes in COVID-19 lockdown restrictions on alcohol consumption and drinking occasion characteristics in Scotland and England in 2020: an interrupted time-series analysis. Addiction, 117(6), pp. 1622-1639. (doi: 10.1111/add.15794) (PMID:35108758)
Brand-Correa, L., Brook, A., Büchs, M., Meier, P. , Naik, Y. and O’Neill, D. W. (2022) Economics for people and planet – moving beyond the neoclassical paradigm. Lancet Planetary Health, 6(4), E371-E379. (doi: 10.1016/S2542-5196(22)00063-8) (PMID:35397225) (PMCID:PMC9226380)
Gibbs, N. K., Angus, C., Dixon, S., Parry, C. D.H., Meier, P. , Boachie, M. K. and Verguet, S. (2022) Equity impact of minimum unit pricing of alcohol on household health and finances among rich and poor drinkers in South Africa. BMJ Global Health, 7(1), e007824. (doi: 10.1136/bmjgh-2021-007824) (PMID:34992078) (PMCID:PMC8739056)
Naik, Y., Brook, A., Perraton, J. and Meier, P. (2021) Fiscal and monetary policies: the cutting edge of advocacy and research on population health and climate change. Perspectives in Public Health, 141(6), pp. 325-327. (doi: 10.1177/17579139211059983)
Holmes, J., Angus, C., Sasso, A., Stevely, A. K. and Meier, P. S. (2021) What proportion of on-trade alcohol is served to those who are already potentially intoxicated? An analysis of event-level data. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 82(5), pp. 602-609. (doi: 10.15288/jsad.2021.82.602) (PMID:34546906) (PMCID:PMC7611694)
Nixon, C., Elliott, L. and Henderson, M. (2019) Providing sex and relationships education for looked after children: a qualitative exploration of how personal and institutional factors promote or limit the experience of role ambiguity conflict and overload among caregivers. BMJ Open, 9, e025075. (doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2018-025075) (PMID:30975674) (PMCID:PMC6500194)
